RLL Ep.42: Happy New Year 2021!

ThornCrown Network iconThornCrown Network

0 views

A review of the top stories of 2020 and a look ahead to 2021.

0 comments

00:20
Everybody Steve Matthews here. Thanks for joining me for radio looks lucid episode 42 and the title of this episode is happy New Year's 2021 so I hope everybody had a
00:33
Safe and enjoyable New Year's. I I know for myself, you know, I didn't have a very exciting time this year
00:39
I pretty much I got done with work and I ate some dinner and then
00:45
I went in sat down in front of the the TV and And I pretty much binge -watched swamp people for four
00:55
Kind of half -awake half -asleep, you know, I have an excuse though you know, it was it was kind of interesting the this was the first week between Christmas and New Year's that I've worked for a
01:07
Few years and I had a buddy of mine at work He he wanted to take off and then I had to cover for him in his absence
01:14
And and I know I've had the last several years off and it's kind of like I can't really tell him Because well,
01:19
I've had the last several years off So I agreed to it and I was hoping when I came into this past week that you know
01:26
That it'd be kind of an easy week, you know, it's the end of the year, you know all of our clients you know, they're all on vacation and you know, maybe
01:32
I'd be able to sit there and Get a few things tidied up and in what have you and in preparation for for 2021?
01:39
Well, no, it didn't work that way at all In fact, it was one of the busiest weeks
01:44
I've ever had In my current position, it was really busy and I got to the end of the week and I was just exhausted and I Say I got done with with work and I pretty much just went in and collapsed in front of the
01:58
TV And it did I watched I binge watched swamp people for four hours now I very rarely ever sit down in front of a
02:05
TV and watch four hours of anything But I did on New Year's Eve and in you know
02:10
These guys that if you've ever seen and usually they're they're in Louisiana down there in the in the bayou
02:16
Some some good old Cajuns these these these fellows are but anyway, this is a special series of episodes
02:22
They they went to the Florida Everglades and and they were catching These Burmese pythons which have infested the
02:30
Everglades and I've read about this elsewhere But you know there have been problems for a long time
02:36
In the Everglades with these these snakes and the population these pythons just exploded now these these snakes are not native to the
02:43
Everglades But these are snakes that people bought as pets and then they'd you know Grow to 10 or 12 or 14 feet or whatever and I guess they didn't want him anymore
02:52
So they just let them loose in the Everglades and the other snakes love it. I mean, it's like the it's like the greatest
02:58
Playground they can imagine they've bred like crazy and they're just taking over the swamp
03:04
And so these guys are in there. They were at work Catching these snakes and it seemed like that. They must have surely caught every single snake.
03:11
There wasn't the Everglades Probably not but it sure seemed that way. Yeah, and these guys they they'd work in teams
03:18
They'd go out and they'd they'd get a snake and and one of them would grab it by its tail And then the other guy I'd kind of go up and and grab it right behind the head
03:26
So so it couldn't couldn't you know bite them or anything? Pythons aren't poisonous, but they they can deliver a pretty nasty bite nonetheless
03:34
And then they drop them in a bag and then they go on and they'd they'd find other other snakes
03:40
And I said I watched this for four hours. So that was my big that was my big New Year's Eve You know, I think what
03:45
Dick Clark used to have the rockin New Year's Eve. Why I was was watching swamp people catch snakes
03:53
So that was that was my New Year's Eve anyway, I hope you had a good New Year's Eve and I enjoyed it too
03:59
By the way, you know that was one of the nice things and it's something I don't do probably as much as I should and that is just take some
04:06
Time to relax. I did nothing productive on New Year's Eve and You know,
04:11
I think it's a it's a good thing. It's a wise thing. You know as Christians we want to use the time that we have
04:17
Effectively, but it was really nice just to relax for a few hours And as I said, I don't get to do that all that often
04:24
So it was it was super nice to have an opportunity to do that Even for a few hours in New Year's Eve I would
04:30
I say I was gonna do this this broadcast of New Year's Eve But it just I just didn't have the juice for it and then yesterday
04:38
New Year's Day I wanted to go ahead and do it and it still didn't happen for one reason or another New Year's Day, let's see.
04:45
I did a little bit better on the productive side of things I know that I did have an opportunity to I got a little bit of laundry done and a few cleanup things and what -have -you
04:55
But I did also spend several hours three hours or so. I watched a football game my Cincinnati Bearcats I'm a graduate of the
05:02
University of Cincinnati and the The Bearcats were playing they had a great year this year. They won undefeated in the regular season
05:08
And they went to the Peach Bowl they played in a New Year's Day Bowl So that's a pretty big deal to be able to go play in a
05:16
New Year's Day ball And and and you see is probably not noted for its football, but they've had a pretty good football program
05:23
For for some time. They've been very competitive and they've got a fellow a Luke fickle
05:29
That took over. This is his fourth year as a coach. He had been at Ohio State and He was a
05:35
I think he was their defensive coordinator and he came here This is his first at least college -level head coaching job, and he's done a great job
05:43
And and so I just wanted to say, you know Congratulations to the coach fickle and and the team on a really a fantastic season
05:51
Unfortunately, they weren't able to to pull out the win. They kind of lost a heartbreak It was you know They they were playing
05:57
Georgia the Bulldogs and they kicked a field goal on him at the last Last second field goal with you know, the clock was like two two seconds that when the when they kicked the field goal and and that was it and Ended up winning by well
06:11
They ended up winning that that put Georgia head by one and then they they ended up when they Georgia had to kick off You know
06:18
UC received the ball in the end zone. They ended up tackling Oh, no They they got the ball in the one -yard line and they ran one play from scrimmage and and they tackled a quarterback in the end
06:27
So they got a safety. So the official score shows Georgia won by three But you know that was that was kind of a fluky two points that the
06:35
Georgia got really they they won by one I mean, it's a very competitive game and you see was actually up most of the time
06:40
But they they had some problems and they couldn't quite couldn't quite pull it out But it was it still it was it was a great game and it was a great season
06:48
So, yeah, I want to just like I said say congratulations to the coach fickle and the team and and really, you know they gave us something to root for here and in the fall of 2020 when there's
06:59
It hasn't been well 2020 wasn't the greatest year. Let's put it that way.
07:04
I think we all know that So that's what I did on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, so finally today here it is this
07:12
January 2nd I'm finally getting around to doing the New Year's show. So What I thought
07:17
I'd do here today is Oh Maybe share a little bit of a look back at 2020 and and a look ahead to to 2021
07:26
So let's let's kind of dive into a few things here One thing I wanted to mention now,
07:31
I'm not a big huge New Year's resolution guy but the
07:39
The one resolution I did make last year and I actually did this in a podcast and I said
07:44
I was gonna gonna try to to make a Podcast episode once every week.
07:50
Well, how did I do? Well, yeah, yeah, I didn't I didn't fully succeed
07:55
I actually went several months without doing a podcast Just you know how things happen things just get busy
08:01
What have you? But I Was able to at least the last couple months
08:10
Keep my promise. I think I've on like about eight or nine straight weeks now of doing a podcast So maybe you know,
08:16
I didn't quite get it at the beginning of the year, but I improved and I Close strong.
08:23
How about that? Let's let's say I had a strong close. So, you know, Lord willing I'll be able to keep that up here in in 2021 with doing a podcast at least
08:32
Once a week doing a live stream or do doing something. I really enjoyed doing this. So That's something that I hope to be able to to continue and build on that momentum from the end of 2020 going into 2021
08:46
Now, of course one thing that's amazing and just talking about a look back on 2020 is how much the world's changed
08:52
In just the past 12 months, you know 12 months ago. You and I were sitting here probably none of us had heard the term kovat or Coronavirus, I mean maybe unless you're an epidemiologist or in medicine or something
09:05
I mean, I'd never heard of these things and yet, I mean that's been certainly one of the biggest stories here of Of of 2020 and you know, it's it's kind of hard, you know, you can't get away from it
09:18
So, I mean we had we had the at least what's what's called by the by official and they call it a pandemic
09:24
I'm not not convinced that that's necessarily the case And and it wasn't just the pandemic, of course
09:31
But it was was all of the the things that accompany that, you know We're talking about here the lockdowns that have occurred and are still occurring in the
09:39
United States and also elsewhere You know, they've had some very severe lockdowns in in Europe.
09:46
I know Great Britain has been under a substantial lockdown for a while now They've had these in Australia Depending on where you are on Australia.
09:54
Some of them have been stricter than others. I know in the state of Victoria Which includes
10:00
Melbourne, Australia that it's been extremely severe there and You know, that's well, let's just say
10:09
I don't agree with the the official policies on on COVID that have been taken by the government and I I think that that has been a a major problem.
10:18
One of the great frustrations I have sometimes is when you look at the reporting on on how
10:26
COVID and things have been presented. They say oh, well, you know, you know due to due to COVID, you know
10:31
All of these people have lost their job millions of people have lost their job You know, there's been this huge impact on the economy blah blah blah.
10:38
Well It's that's misleading. I mean to say that you know that that all of these millions of people have lost their jobs because of COVID That's not the case
10:47
You know all these millions of people lost their jobs and have experienced some of the hardships they have
10:53
Not because of COVID but because of in my view the government's overreaction to COVID And I think that's an important distinction to keep in mind, you know
11:03
COVID put nobody out of work It's the government's overreaction that has put people out of work.
11:09
So we'll just kind of leave it at that for right now You know, then we had and this was all
11:15
I think somewhat related to to the COVID issue We had the stock market crash in February and March and a lot of people don't remember that it's hard to believe now
11:24
Of course, we've got the stock market now at record highs here at the end of the year But back in February in March, I mean the stock market took a frightening tumble and the only reason that it didn't continue down and the only reason it's at a record level right now is
11:40
Because of all the money printing that took place by the Federal Reserve You know, we have we really have a stock market that's sustained not by The fact that we have a strong economy
11:54
But by the fact that the Federal Reserve has created trillions and trillions of dollars and this is just of course what we know
12:00
Officially my my strong suspicion is that there's probably been a lot more done that that hasn't been
12:07
Officially recognized or officially reported. So there's the stock market issue too.
12:13
And they say now here we are We've got the Dow the Dow Jones, which at least for most people not maybe necessarily for people who are stock market professionals
12:20
But probably for the general public when people think of the stock market, they tend to think of the Dow Industrial average.
12:26
Well, the Dow is now over 30 ,000 and I think it's pushing 31 ,000 So you've got this this huge run -up in in the stock market over the past let's say nine months
12:38
You know another big story and I didn't write this down But I should have have included this in my notes has been the run -up in the cryptocurrencies, especially
12:46
Bitcoin I think that Bitcoin I mean, I can't keep up with it. Hardly You know
12:51
Bitcoin went from a low of about forty three hundred dollars back in in March again
12:57
Neither the low of Bitcoin was, you know Right around the middle of March into March right about the time the stock market hit the bottom, too
13:04
But it's now over thirty thousand just like the Dow it's up like around thirty one thirty two thousand dollars for a single
13:11
Bitcoin and and of course, that's not the only cryptocurrency out there But it's the most prominent one and it has had a huge run and it doesn't seem to be stopping right now
13:20
So that's another big financial story from 2020 is just the the run that Bitcoin has made has been truly amazing
13:29
Fourth big story in 2020 obviously was the was the riots, you know, that was something that was
13:36
That was some of the the Black Lives Matter riots and then of course we had
13:42
Antifa as well. He had riots in many cities all over the United States and In particular, it seemed like the the riots were focused maybe most and especially in in Portland, Oregon and in in Seattle and that seems to be almost the home base of Antifa if you will it's kind of interesting today.
14:02
I saw a report I was watching Tim Poole and he was reporting on the mayor of Portland Ted Wheeler and Ted Wheeler actually came out.
14:14
I think this was for the first time and explicitly denounced Antifa by name and He seemed to suggest in his comments that they were gonna start going after these people
14:25
So, I don't know for whatever reason, you know, maybe it's because they they feel that they got they finally removed
14:32
Donald Trump I I don't know. I I don't know what it is that's triggering this. Maybe he decided maybe it's the new year
14:39
He decided to do this I don't know but it appears that the sort of official or semi -official endorsement of Antifa by by the mayor of Portland and by the
14:50
Portland City government Seems to be coming to an end, you know, we'll see here.
14:55
I hope for the people of Portland that that's the case We'll we'll see if the the actions follow the words here
15:05
Then of course the the the big story the other big story, I guess maybe you could probably argue. This is the bigger story
15:11
It's hard to say Certainly is a major story was the the presidential campaign of of 2020
15:17
It certainly wasn't like any campaign that I've ever seen before and I think probably most people would would say the same thing
15:24
It was just nothing like that and You know, we ended up with a you know, it's still really not settled
15:33
I mean even here we are over what is that was a lot early November. So here we are. We're in January So it's been almost two months now since the vote took place.
15:41
What was that on the I Think November 3rd, I think it was was the date this year
15:47
So it's almost two months to the day that the presidential elections took place and we've had of course a massive amount of controversy
15:55
My own view on this is I think that there are serious serious problems with the way that election was conducted and You know that that's something
16:08
I mean there are a lot of people who who differ in opinions on this and I'm Hesitating a little bit to say directly what
16:14
I think because I'm doing this not just as a podcast I'm doing this as a live stream I'm live streaming us on Facebook and and on on Twitter and on YouTube and I'm not quite sure
16:24
I'm kind of feeling out where where the the censorship goes what what I can say what
16:29
I can't say on on those Particular platforms, but let me just say this. I think that there is a lot of evidence that there are serious problems and and I think that the people are a right to To raise some questions and and let's
16:44
I'll just just leave it at that for now But certainly, I mean these are all events, you know just just going through these whether we're talking about kovat with some of the stock market crash the the
16:56
Massive amount of money printing by the Fed, you know the riots the presidential campaign This has been really it's been a year unlike any other
17:04
I've never seen anything like this I mean, it's I guess probably the closest thing that you could could compare it to would be some of the stuff that went on in The 1960s, you know, we've probably all seen, you know films of you know,
17:16
I think the 1968 What was a very tumultuous year, you know, they had some riots
17:22
I think it was the Democrats They had a convention in Chicago that year they had a big riot and of course there were a lot of there were some assassinations that took place that year and And just some very
17:32
Some very difficult very disturbing things that whole era not just 1968 but even even within that period
17:40
There were just there were a lot of problems a lot of upheavals now, of course, I I was technically I was around for it I'm an old guy.
17:46
I was born in the 1960s Okay, so I I was technically around for those things, but I really wasn't old enough to Let's say appreciate
17:54
What was going on but I've talked to people who who did I've talked to my folks and that my parents and and their view was that actually 2020 was worse than the stuff that was going on in the 60s and and that's saying quite a bit because the 60s were without question a very a very difficult time for the
18:13
United States and To say that the 2020 unrest exceeded that is
18:19
I think pretty substantial Now what I wanted to do is
18:24
I wanted to take a little bit of look ahead here at 2020 and let's see what what 2020 may hold for us.
18:33
I See there's a comment from one of my viewers out there He's talking about the this is
18:41
Tim. He's talking about the election. He says it was stolen. Amen, brother Yep, I agree with you. I agree with that 100 %
18:50
Taking a look here at at 2021 You know if you told me all the things that were going to take place in 2020
18:59
I I wouldn't have believed that those things were going to take place. I was truly amazed by that And with that said, you know, you might wonder why
19:10
I would even try to attempt to forecast 2021, right? I mean because all this crazy stuff happened in 2020 that I didn't anticipate
19:15
Why would I even try to forecast 21? 2021 well, I guess what
19:20
I'd answer what I'd say to that is that it's part of our God -given nature to make plans and Part of making plans is looking ahead and at least trying to make some reasonable determinations about what's likely to happen
19:36
So we can make prudent decisions based on those forecasts and that's not an unchristian thing to do
19:41
In fact, I mean if you look in the Bible The Bible talks about about using prudence and about using foresight and in using some good judgment in Sort of assessing the situation and in trying to see where things are going.
19:58
Here's a few examples in This is from Proverbs 27 12 and in that we read a prudent man foresees evil and hides himself
20:07
The simple pass on and are punished Now let me read that again for you a prudent man
20:13
Foresees evil and hides himself the simple pass on and are punished well you know,
20:22
I That's a verse that I've used quite a bit. I've written some things on my blog some posts on my
20:29
Luke's Luke Luke's list blog about about prepping and that's one of the verses that that I have appealed to as As scriptural basis for doing some prepping, you know,
20:42
I mean we we should be able to use Use prudence and in fact if you ever have studied finance or financial planning there's a there's something that that's used it's called a prudent man standard and You know if you're judging whether or not to do something
21:01
You know you look at you have to ask and you ask yourself Okay, what would a prudent man take this course of action or not?
21:08
You know, how do you know if somebody if a prudent man would do that? Well, I mean you try to do some some due diligence. You try to do some research
21:14
You know you if you're thinking about, you know buying a house or starting a business or you know
21:19
Laying out some big expense for something. I mean you should sit down and Try to make some some plans now me, of course, you know, and unless you're a prophet, which
21:29
I'm not I Don't believe in continuing revelation, but I mean unless you're a prophet, you know, we don't know what the future is
21:35
You know, God hasn't revealed those things to us. He has though revealed to us quite a bit in his word and given us quite a bit of good information on how to to make some reasonable plans and That's something that is is commended in Scripture Luke 14 is
21:53
Another interesting example here. In fact, there are two really good parables that that Jesus gives in Luke 14 and One of them they're fairly brief parables
22:03
But they're actually a couple of my favorite parables and in Jesus talks at one point talks about a man who who sets out to build
22:09
A tower and and I'm paraphrasing here, but basically he tells us here is you know, what man, you know decides to build a who decides to build a tower doesn't first sit down and And see whether he has the money to complete it, you know
22:23
So he doesn't get to the point where it's half finished and it doesn't get done and people mock him and saying huh? He started building that tower, but he couldn't finish you know,
22:31
I remember that there was a case a few years ago and this goes back to the financial crisis in 2008, but there was a
22:38
There was a large building that was being built over in kind of a well -to -do area
22:44
Cincinnati called Kenwood and and they were building this tower was kind of like a combined office retail tower it was in a very prominent location and it was right by the highway as you go through Kenwood and When the financial crisis hit
22:58
I Don't know whether it was a contractor went bankrupt or or the the people who are having the building built
23:03
I I don't know the details on it I know the work stopped and in what they had done is they had they had erected the steel frame of this building and then
23:11
It's just the work just stopped and it sat there Uncomplete with just bare steel just hanging out there for I'd say probably a good
23:20
Three to five years. I don't remember. I mean eventually they did finish it and it got done But it was a bit of an eyesore sitting there
23:26
And I'm sure that that drove the the city fathers nuts having this this half -finished
23:32
Building just kind of kind of sitting out there Yeah, that wasn't a good thing
23:38
It was it was kind of a like I say it was kind of an eyesore and in Jesus talks about this He says, you know what man that who you know doesn't plan to you know
23:46
Think about building the tower doesn't first sit down and find out. Well, can I actually do this project and it's a prudent
23:52
That's a reasonable thing to do right and you know, and Jesus praises this man and and he gives another example he talks about a king, you know who's getting ready to go into battle and he says what
24:02
King who's getting ready to go into battle and Faces opponents 20 ,000 doesn't first sit down decide. Well, can
24:07
I meet my opponents 20 ,000 with my 10 ,000? And you know if if the king thinks well, you know,
24:14
I you know I think this guy's got a bigger army and you know, I just I'm not gonna be able to go head -to -head with this guy
24:20
You know, he sues for peace Again, you know, this is a king using some some prudence. I mean, he's not using any kind of special revelation
24:28
It's he's not not doesn't seem to be appealing to any kind of prophecy or anything But you know, Jesus is saying, you know, what man out there in these situations wouldn't exercise some basic prudence
24:40
And and he praises these these people for doing this. I mean, he doesn't say this is a bad thing that you're doing he says it's a good thing that they're doing so in in the spirit of Prudence in the spirit of you know using the the logical equipment the
24:56
The information that the Lord has revealed to us in the scriptures I think it's reasonable to try to take a look ahead kind of look where we've been and maybe where we've going and try to Make some some prudent judgments about where things might go in 2021.
25:10
So that's my defense of doing this Alright, so the first thing that I wanted to look at then
25:16
Was I want to talk about the presidential election at the pardon me why
25:21
I take a take a drink of coffee here, you know I I will appeal to to Scott Adams as As an inspiration for that.
25:30
I don't if you've ever watched Scott Adams before he's he's the guy that writes a Dilbert cartoon And he does a lot of a live streaming in this type of thing and he's very good
25:40
You know, I I don't always agree with everything he says, but I think he's he's an interesting guy to listen to And he usually is the least able even if he he has an opinion
25:51
Maybe that I don't necessarily agree with I usually find he does a pretty good job At least supporting his opinion and he's also willing to admit when you know, if he was wrong about something
26:00
He'll come out and say it. So he's not somebody that that just keeps being being bullheaded
26:06
You know if if things turn out differently than what he had originally thought. So yeah, I do find him interesting
26:12
I don't think that he's a Christian but But he's an interesting guy, but he always he always likes to drink coffee on his his live stream
26:20
So I'm gonna going to appeal to the great Scott Adams and I'm going to drink some coffee during my live stream as well
26:29
That's good okay, so Talking about 2020. So we want to talk a little about the presidential election
26:37
So what about the presidential election what's gonna happen? How's that all gonna end wind up? You know, the inauguration is coming up in less than three weeks coming up on January 21st
26:45
So who do I think is going to be? Inaugurated on January 21st.
26:50
Well, I'm gonna tell you I think it's going to be Joe Biden now
26:57
You know, maybe some some of you out there who are my listeners that maybe that's a little bit disappointing For me to say that I'd like to see
27:05
Donald Trump Be elected. I would I would like to see him be be inaugurated on the 21st, but I just haven't seen anything so far
27:14
That makes me think that that's going to happen now, I do think that there he he has a legitimate case for Some major fraud in this election, and I'm not going to to back off saying that I do believe that that's the case now
27:31
I know some some very smart people some very good Christian people some Very intelligent people don't agree with that and I understand it.
27:40
I respect that but in my opinion Yeah, I think that there was was major fraud in the in the 2020 election
27:48
Unfortunately, I don't think that that's going to matter. I mean, I haven't seen anything in in any of the court challenges or any of the things that have gone on in in Washington that make me think that that's
28:01
The heat that anybody but Joe Biden is going to be president come January 21st of this year
28:07
I'd like to be wrong about that, you know, and some of you may say well, you know You're you're way off base on this.
28:13
But I mean, let's let's face it I mean the the court challenges have gone nowhere the entirety of the establishment, you know, whether you're talking about Mitch McConnell You know the
28:22
Republican Senate Majority Leader whether you're talking about the the former Yeah, Bill Barr, whatever he was the the head guy over there it's a
28:36
Department of Justice Whether you're talking about the Supreme Court And even some of the lower courts
28:44
I mean they just the the Trump legal team has just not made any headway and I I haven't seen a lot
28:50
I haven't seen anything out of them. That gives me a lot of confidence That it's going to be anything other than Joe Biden on January 21st now with that said
29:00
I'm not saying that people Shouldn't pray that something can happen. You know, there's a guy that I follow quite a bit on on YouTube I watch his videos.
29:08
I watched him for several years. His name is Greg Hunter and and he's a Christian and I like a lot of his work
29:17
And he can be very compelling when he gets on he talks about About Donald Trump and about Donald Trump's, you know, so some of the options and this he has and and he's you know
29:28
Appealed as a Christian He says, you know people have prayed and prayed and prayed about this and he in his opinion that you know that that's going to be sufficient for God to act and into to bring
29:41
Donald Trump in as president now You know The Lord can do anything he wants to do and and if he wants
29:49
Donald Trump to be president He will make that happen. I have absolutely no doubt That the Lord can make that happen but Like I say,
29:58
I'm just basing on what I've seen so far and and I'm not so sure that that's going to be the case
30:05
It seems to me that you know there's a great deal of corruption in this country and the people that run this country are quite happy with with that corruption and And here's the thing
30:15
If even if you know, let's suppose Joe Biden does get in suppose he is inaugurated and again
30:20
My assumption is that he will be inaugurated Does that mean God didn't hear prayers? Well, no, that's that's not true
30:27
I mean, I think that that Joe Biden is deeply corrupt And I think a Joe Biden presidency is going to to be a very negative thing for the
30:37
United States But you know, maybe Maybe that's what maybe that's what
30:45
God has decreed. I I don't know that you know, I don't know I say I don't know the future. I don't claim to be a prophet, but it's at least possible
30:53
You know that God has decreed that that that is going to be the thing that happens There certainly seems to be a lot of evidence that at least suggests that One of the nice things about this is that of course, we're gonna know for sure here and in a fairly short period of time
31:06
We don't have to wait very long to find out You know to find out whether my opinion is correct or not on this matter
31:15
Quite frankly, I'd be very I would rejoice if I were wrong But I just I don't see how how
31:21
I I just don't see how Joe Biden doesn't take over as president And you know and again getting back to this whole idea of Of how could you know somebody that is in my view is obviously corrupt is what
31:34
Joe Biden is How could he get in as president? Well You know, let's look at the scriptures. I mean you can go and and find in the scriptures
31:42
There's a lot of biblical precedents for God at times punishing nations for their disobedience for their unbelief for their wickedness
31:52
You know, we we think about think about how how he treated Israel, I mean there were several times in the
31:58
Old Testament Where God used very evil nations to punish Israel when the people turned their back on on the
32:05
Covenant And you can think of many times where Israel was overrun by By foreigners by by pagan by heathen countries
32:13
You see this in the book of Judges a lot, you know, sometimes the Philistines got the upper hand
32:19
And and you know actually, you know kind of Really had their their boot on the neck of the
32:24
Israelites and in had it on there for some time I mean, it wasn't just a year or two. I mean it'd be decades and decades on on end at times but then of course eventually
32:35
The Northern Kingdom was carried away by the Assyrians for their unbelief and then Judah about a hundred years later
32:41
You know a little bit more than that But Judah was then later conquered by by Babylon dragged into captivity and it wasn't because the
32:49
Assyrians and the Babylonians were great people But it was because God was determined to punish his people
32:57
For turning their back on him, you know, and and you look at the United States and and you look at the the wonderful The great blessings that we've really experienced as a country
33:09
I mean, this is a country that was really founded by by Puritans, but you look at Where we are today here in the year 2021 and we're a long long way from from the
33:21
Puritans Yeah, I'm not going to go into all the the details on that right now But I'm sure that you can think about what those are
33:28
Yeah, and and would God be wrong? in In visiting punishment on this nation.
33:35
Yeah, I don't think he would and again, I don't know These say I'm not trying to sit here and say that that I know what
33:42
God's going to do or I know Exactly what's gonna happen? I don't know, but I'm just I'm trying to throw out there some of the possibilities
33:50
You know in one of the possibilities is that that God may you know, it maybe he's done with the
33:56
United States Or maybe at least he's you know, we're gonna go through some some difficult times
34:03
Because of Some very poor decisions that we have allowed as the American people some very poor decisions that we have made
34:13
I'm gonna read for me. There's a a This is an excerpt out of an essay by John Robbins, it's called the religious wars the 21st century
34:23
There's a couple paragraphs here. And I think these are this was written back in 2006 and I think these are really
34:31
A very prescient words that he used. So let me go ahead and just just read this and we'll talk a little bit about it
34:36
This is an extended quote quote the phrase collapse of a civilization is a common figure of speech that misleads many into thinking that Civilizations collapse in much the same way that buildings collapse during controlled demolitions
34:49
Or like the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11th 2001 The whole affair they think is dramatic obvious and over in a relatively short period of time
34:59
And when it is done, nothing is left, but dust and rubble The metaphor of civilizational collapse is misleading and some people under its influence deny that the
35:08
West is in collapse But civilizations did not come crashing down in a matter of months or even years and is foolish to expect them to do so The West has been in for collapse for more than a century
35:19
The biblical theology that created Western civilization 500 years ago has all but disappeared in the
35:25
West The rejection of Christianity in North America and Europe and the rise of several false religions including
35:31
Arminianism, Romanism, Pentecostalism, atheism, and mysticism have led to the collapse of the
35:37
West That collapse is marked by or more accurately is the dissolution of the biblical family, husband, wife, and children the economic and political regimentation of the individual and business enterprises government ownership and control of most educational institutions the growth of crime, the winning of civility, the acceptance of public profanity, obscenity, and homosexuality, and the resurgence of brutality
36:05
To oppose some of this civilizational collapse the religious right in America has embraced both Romanism and Judaism as saviors of the
36:11
West Foolishly ignorant of the fact that they as forms of unbelief are destroyers of the
36:17
West and causes of the collapse What we call Western civilization arose because of the widespread preaching and believing of the gospel of justification by faith alone
36:28
Theologies that deny this doctrine are fatal to both souls and societies Excuse me got a little scratchy throat there.
36:39
I'm gonna get a little another cup of coffee here. Just a moment or sip of coffee Okay, so that's you know what what
36:48
John Robbins said here You know and he's talking here about the collapse of Western civilization which the
36:53
Unites of which you know, the United States is a part And and I really do think that that's what we're experiencing you know, and and he talked in here about You know one of the the issues that That to oppose the civilizational collapse of religious right in America's embraced both
37:13
Romanism and Judaism as saviors of the West Now, I mean this is a been a major problem going back to the neo -evangelicals after World War two and You know, there has been a great deal of ecumenical activity over the past say 75 years or so, you know
37:32
I mean, I remember growing up and there was a movement and some of you maybe who are Maybe my age or older you might remember there was a movement called the moral majority.
37:42
It was headed up by Jerry Falwell he was a Baptist minister and it was a it was an ecumenical movement as You know as have been many other types of Religious conservative movements,
37:57
I think for instance like of Oh Charles Colson what his his prison fellowship ministry, you know, he was that was a very ecumenical movement
38:07
The greatest evangelist of that period following World War two is Billy Graham.
38:12
Billy Graham was very ecumenical In fact, he might have been the the leading evangelical
38:20
Ecumenist of them all he was was openly in would openly work with with the
38:26
Roman Catholic Church and You know there has been this this tendency among evangelicals among Protestants to to really abandon the biblical requirement for Separation from from ungodliness, you know, what's that say in in Ephesians?
38:46
I think I hope I quote this correctly, but it says you have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness
38:52
But rather rather reprove them. Well, you know, we've done just the opposite You know, we have had fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness and we failed to reprove them
39:01
You know, and I wonder if if some of what's going on You know if if Joe Biden ends up becoming president
39:09
You know, maybe as as Protestants maybe we can look at this and say, you know, maybe some of this is
39:17
Due to due to us, you know, because when we join forces, you know when we you know as Christians attempt to to join forces with Politically with with unbelievers
39:30
It's really very much like, you know, think about In the Old Testament, you know
39:36
Isaiah talked about this and I think a number of the prophets did but I know Isaiah So they talk about this, you know, he said in one place, you know
39:42
Woe to those who go down to Egypt and you know, and they they seek the the help of Pharaoh But they don't seek me, you know, this is the
39:50
Lord speaking says, you know, they they go they go down to Egypt a day They rely on Pharaoh. They trust in his chariots, but they they don't seek me
39:57
God saying and and that is I Think been a very big problem with Ecumenical Protestants, I mean they have have made that same mistake
40:09
That the the Israelites made in the Old Testament of trying to yoke with unbelievers
40:15
Thinking somehow that that's going to preserve Liberty and limited government and and the heritage we have
40:21
In the West the West, you know Western civilization and John Robins He defines this elsewhere, but it's the civilization was created by the
40:31
Protestant Reformation by the widespread preaching of and belief in the gospel of justification by faith alone but you know even much of the believing churches forgotten this or maybe never even learned the the connection between the the preaching of the gospel the relief of the gospel and And and the freedoms that we enjoy in the
40:55
West I don't think most people have even really been trained in that because they're not taught this type of thing in churches and and I wonder if if maybe some of the reason why you've seen the
41:08
Continual downgrade in our civilization. I mean, I've seen this just in my own lifetime Yeah, I'm well,
41:14
I'm gonna be 55 in March. So I'm a couple a couple months short of my 55th birthday But I mean
41:19
I think of just how far down things have moved just in my lifetime and and maybe even even just the last
41:25
Five to ten years. I mean the the slide is it seems to be getting faster You know
41:30
John Robins as he noted, you know that the civilizations don't end the
41:38
Civilizations don't end immediately. They don't come crashing down all at once but it's something that That takes place over a period of time,
41:47
I mean, I mean I've seen this even just in my lifetime I See a comment out there that says
41:54
I love the Christmas tree in the background. Yeah, I've got my Charlie Brown Christmas tree back there Sitting here you can see it over my left shoulder.
42:02
So yes, so thank you for that ray. I'm glad you like that So That was one thing we had the the presidential election and And some of the the possible fallout from that Well another thing that I think to look forward to or maybe at least consider maybe look forward to that sounds positive
42:25
But another thing that I'm forecasting for the year 2021 is continued economic pain
42:31
There's no way that Americans in my opinion are going to get out of the ongoing economic crisis without getting hurt
42:38
We're all going to get hurt and we're gonna get hurt regardless of who's president even if by by some
42:45
Amazing occurrence Donald Trump is inaugurated on January 21st. We're going to have economic pain
42:53
That's going to happen You know the economic troubles we're going through now are really just an extension of that That global financial crisis of 2008 and the problems that set off the 2008 crisis them the main problem
43:08
And that was one of too much debt. That's never been addressed. And in fact in the the infinite wisdom of our of our elite
43:18
Sort of master of the universe ruling class. What did they do to solve the debt problem of 2008?
43:25
Well, they added more debt to the system. I Of water on the head of a man who's drowning
43:34
I mean, you know, the last thing we needed to do was to add more debt, but that's what we've done We've added a phenomenal amount of debt.
43:41
And in fact even just within the last nine months I mean the amount of debt that the United States has taken on is is truly extraordinary and of course all of the the money printing that comes along with that and All of the inflation all the or I shouldn't say inflation should say all the rising prices that come as a result of that There's going to be economic pain, you know, and really what
44:04
I think what What our economists and bankers and politicians would try to convince people of is that you can
44:12
Can borrow money and never have to pay it back. You just keep you just borrow more money and That that is a lie
44:20
You know God has so constructed the universe that all debts must be paid and they will be paid
44:29
There's no, you know, ultimately nobody can Welsh on a debt But that's it.
44:36
But that's what our they say. That's what our politicians. That's what our our central bankers. That's what our Intellectuals, you know the
44:44
Economists what have you that that's what they tried to do You know, there's a philosophy now that it's kind of risen to the the top and economics
44:51
They call it modern monetary theory or MMT for short. And basically what that means is it
45:00
Here's a maybe the simplest way to describe it MMT basically says that yes, in fact money really does grow on trees
45:07
You know, I always remember that was a kid, you know I'd ask for something expensive and you know, my mom would sternly rebuke me and say well money doesn't grow on trees, you know
45:14
Yeah, that's kind of a very, you know mom or dad thing to say. I don't know. Maybe parents still say that I don't know
45:24
But I know they would say that to me. That was a common expression money doesn't grow on trees, you know According to the modern monetary theory people money does grow in trees
45:31
You can you can go out and you can print as much of it you want as you want and nothing You know, there aren't any bad effects that are going to happen
45:40
But there are you know and in debt is is a burden I mean you think about how the the
45:46
Bible describes debt, you know, the borrower is a slave of the lender I think it says somewhere
45:53
Excuse me and You know all of this massive debt we're taking on that we have taken on here or we did take on in 2020
46:01
That's going to continue in 2021. It has to we live in a An economic system is called a debt -based economic system
46:10
And the only way that you can create keep a debt -based economic system from collapsing is by taking on more debt the system has it's constructed it requires that and This is not something that's going to slow down it's going to continue
46:26
Basically until it can't now are we gonna have a huge financial implosion in 2021?
46:32
I don't know. I mean, it's possible You know It's kind of interesting when
46:38
I first started following Finances in this and this goes back really to the 2008 crisis is when I started to follow this closely
46:44
So it's been I've been at it about 13 years A lot of people who are very expert in finance and people whose opinions
46:52
I respect people who I think are honest people You know, they were they were saying. Oh, this thing's gonna just collapse any day now, you know, and here we are 13 years later and You know for all the problems we have.
47:03
I mean the system is still basically functioning. It's still going but you know The the debt levels keep rising the level of instability keeps rising and there is going to come a point at some time
47:14
And I don't know when that is when it won't be able to be sustained and this is one of the reasons why you hear a lot of talk among the very elite globalist type people, for example, the
47:28
There's a fellow named Klaus Schwab. Who's the I think I think his title is president of the of the
47:34
World Economic Forum The W EF World Economic Forum the World Economic Forum.
47:40
They run this very prestigious Very prestigious organization a bunch of globalists. I mean, they're they're like a bunch of basically a bunch of bond villains
47:47
At least that's how I think of them These are not good people. They're very smart people. They're very powerful people.
47:53
They're very well connected people I also happen to think they're they're not very good people And they don't mean well for for the average person
48:04
They don't have our best interest at heart But this this Klaus Schwab fellow is talking openly about a great reset and part of that is is a
48:13
Economic reset and I think what he's really pushing for is to create some type of a global digital currency where you have a
48:21
Everybody in the world uses the same money issued by some sort of gigantic World Central Bank And in all of that money is is digital.
48:29
You don't have any physical cash And there are I mean to me that that's a very scary proposition
48:36
My prayer is that that's not something that they're able to realize Or to be able to put into effect, but there are people out there who are pushing for this and these are very powerful people
48:47
And you're gonna hear more about this It's called the great reset and if you actually if you go to the the
48:53
World Economic Forum website You can find papers on that. They've even got videos There's there's one video out there and and I don't have the link for it handy here
49:00
But if you go out and you look at it, I think you can find it on YouTube If you just type in like great reset or something like that, you can probably find this but it's a short video it's maybe two or three minutes, but it's put out by the
49:11
World Economic Forum and They they kind of show some pictures and and I know that the opening one of the opening scenes in it shows this picture this
49:19
Young man, he's kind of smiling. He looks happy and in and there's a caption at the bottom of it says by 2030 you'll own nothing and Then the next the next frame the next scene it goes to and you'll be happy It's unbelievable and they actually come right out and say this you'll own nothing and you'll be happy And this is the
49:41
World Economic Forum. Again. These are not obscure people. These are not People out on some fringe somewhere.
49:48
These are some of the most powerful Best connected people there are in the world and this is the kind of thing that they're pushing now
49:54
It's possible that by 2030, you know, we may own nothing. I don't know that but if you're living in a world
50:00
We own nothing I can almost guarantee you you're not going to be happy You know, this is not a future that that I think you or I would want certainly as Christians.
50:09
I mean, that's not a That's not a future based on any Christian concept of of economics or politics
50:18
So I think we're going to be in for some some difficult times economically I think we're to continue to be in some difficult times politically as well.
50:27
We saw the social unrest From this past from this past year, you know in some of it, of course,
50:34
I think it was there obviously there was some Some racial tension that was involved in that but I think a lot of it too is is
50:44
I Think there are people who who are struggling. There's a lot of people out there who are struggling economically
50:52
And and that's also a you know when you have people who Who don't have?
50:59
Feel like they don't have a lot to lose, you know, they they tend to act out, you know when you have a
51:05
Collapsing economy. There's a good chance. You're also going to get a lot of social unrest. It's going to to accompany that So there's there's that issue as well
51:15
So, I mean, I think we're going to probably have continued social unrest and of course some of the the theories out there
51:21
That are being pushed and they're being taught in in schools and universities are leading to some of this stuff, of course one of the the big drivers,
51:30
I think a lot of social unrest is critical race theory and Essentially critical race theory.
51:36
It's it's a giant attempt at blame -shifting and And it's attempt to say well
51:42
That any problems that a minority group has it's all the fault of of white supremacy and therefore what we have to do is we have to get the government to take money from all of the the the white supremacists and Give it to give it to other people
52:00
And that's in that is a formula To for social unrest. I mean,
52:06
I can't imagine. I mean, that's that's like, you know just like setting off a nitroglycerin bomb almost and You know if these people are able to successfully implement any of these programs more than what they have already,
52:21
I think it could create a great deal of Conflict in this country that's completely avoidable.
52:28
I don't want to go into that too deeply right now But I just I'd wanted to throw that out Another issue and I kind of alluded to this but it's worth talking about maybe a little bit more detail
52:36
There's a whole issue of income inequality We know one of the problems is that you have seen in for instance in the in with all the kovat lockdowns
52:46
And what have you I've read somewhere? I don't have the the reference handy But that the the net worth of the billionaires in the
52:54
United States has increased something like 25 % During the during all the pandemic all the lockdowns this type of thing and that's at the same time
53:03
That a lot of ordinary Americans are really struggling and this is not something even was was new so much
53:11
This is past year. Of course the the lockdowns and all were but the whole tilting of the the income distribution from toward the
53:21
You're already super wealthy and away from ordinary Americans has been ongoing for some time.
53:26
In fact, you could probably go back to the early 1970s when the United States went off the gold standard you've seen this huge shift in income and wealth from ordinary
53:37
Americans to to the super wealthy And this creates a lot of ill will
53:45
Now it might sound a little bit odd for me to be talking about income inequality. You say well Steve Are you turning into a socialist or something?
53:52
Well, I mean I would answer to that. No I'm not a socialist. Although a lot of times you hear
53:58
Socialists at least self -described socialists of various sorts. They will talk about this and this is something where I would actually agree with the socialists, but where I would disagree with them is
54:10
Number one I would disagree with him about the origin of the problem and also about the solution of the problem
54:17
What what the what the socialists would tell you they say well, this is just you know income inequality
54:22
This is just all the fart of cat all the fault of fault of capitalism and what we need is we need bigger government to come in and take money from the super wealthy and then redistribute that to to all the the people who are struggling and that'll make everything awesome and Just and fair and you know, it'll be nothing but rainbows and unicorns here on it, you know from here on and forever well, that's
54:43
I think a complete a completely incorrect analysis of the situation because Because it's not capitalism that's created these huge wealth in inequalities
54:55
It's actually a sort of cronyism It's it's a sort of corporatism You know, if you listen to Ron Paul, he'll talk quite a bit about corporatism and that is, you know
55:03
Corporatism is the idea that you know, the government and businesses get together and they partner with each other, you know and you know the
55:12
It's governments bailing out businesses, you know I think back in 2008 you had all of these big banks on Wall Street begging for bailouts and not just banks
55:20
Of course, there are other major corporations as well. They were begging for bailouts and they received ballots they received, you know trillions of dollars total in bailouts from the
55:29
Fed and You know, these were businesses that had they not been bailed out.
55:35
They'd have gone bankrupt You know and I distinctly remember in 2009 the year after that that financial crisis all these banks that were being bailed out
55:43
They were giving record bonuses to their bankers to their you know to their employees and these aren't small bonuses
55:50
You know just like a couple thousand dollar bonuses or something I mean we're talking here about you know, like six and seven figure bonuses.
55:56
They were being paid out huge sums of money You know and and these were businesses that had the rules of capitalism and capitalism
56:06
It's a system of profits and losses had the rules of capitalism been obeyed had the government not bailed all these people out
56:12
They'd have been out of business. They wouldn't have been getting record bonuses. You know, they did they'd have had to find another job and You know bailouts are not capitalism, you know capitalism, you know bailouts are no part of capitalism, you know bail bailouts are part of cronyism
56:30
Sometimes they call it crony capitalism I don't like using the term crony capitalism because I think it kind of confuses it with with capitalism which capitalism is simply a system where Individuals and groups are allowed to own all kinds of property, you know
56:44
Property of all sorts including the means of production and and you know, they have the ability to sell those things as well
56:52
You know factories and stores and houses and farms And it's a system of private property.
56:59
It's a system of private enterprise It's a system of profits and losses, you know And you know in a capitalist system you have a god -given right to make a lot of money
57:07
And you also have a god -given right to go bankrupt, you know, and when you go bankrupt you don't have any right to go
57:15
Go feed at the public trough and get bailed out, but that's exactly what happened in 2008 and it happened again in 2020
57:26
You know, so I mean we have you know, we have in what it's done it's created this huge income inequality
57:32
The bailouts also the money printing, you know the Federal Reserve Maybe is is the single biggest driver of income inequality because they print all of this money and then the people that get it first are the people who get the full value of it and then when that that money when it when it trickles down when it kind Of gets out into broader society.
57:50
That's where the inflation That's when the the rising prices take place by the time you and I get that money that money has already lost its value, but the people who get to spend it first they get to spend it at its full value and and again that creates
58:04
Income inequality creates wealth inequality if we had a sound money system if we had a limited government
58:10
You wouldn't see anywhere near the kind of income inequality that we do today. I mean, yeah, there would be income inequality
58:19
Some people you know have have more gifts than others. Some people apply themselves better than others
58:25
You know, nowhere is Does the Constitution nowhere in the Bible does it say that everybody has to have the same income or the same amount of property?
58:34
But we should have the same rights the same legal rights
58:41
But with bailouts, of course bailouts are always political right? I mean you have when you have crony capitalism Well, I mean, you know the the big government, you know
58:49
They're gonna bail out their their buddies and leave the rest of us, you know Maybe with with a few breadcrumbs.
58:55
In fact, you can even see that in I think it's what first Samuel 8 where you know the the Israelites they asked for a king and and God sends
59:04
Samuel to rebuke them and and he talks about all of the things that the king is going to do to them This is the behavior of the king that you're you're asking for yourself
59:11
I remember one of the things is that he's gonna take your property. He's gonna give it to his friends Essentially, I mean what
59:17
Sammy was talking about was crony capitalism. That's exactly what we have here today And I always just think it's so weird
59:23
How confused the socialists are because they when they talk about oh, you know we need to have all these big government programs in order to be able to to rectify the problems with income inequality because it's it's the big government that created the income inequality to begin with and they think that somehow create an even bigger government is going to solve
59:42
That problem and then I think that's really a very confused way of approaching things
59:48
So, let's see I wanted to go ahead and and wrap this up then here today I see a comment here from from Ray He says the video put out by the
01:00:00
WEF that you mentioned is disturbing I've read some articles by Schwab and they're also disturbing.
01:00:06
Yeah. Thanks for covering this. Yeah. I'm glad I had appreciate that rate Thank you. Yeah, the the WEF And in fact,
01:00:13
I hope to be able to write about it some here Lord willing in the month of January They have their annual meeting.
01:00:20
They have this meeting in Davos, Switzerland every January so it's coming up in just a few weeks and I hope to have a chance to write some about that here as we approach the
01:00:31
The Davos the annual Davos meeting because I think it's really important for Christians to be aware of of this organization and other like organizations because these these these organizations do not promote a
01:00:45
Christian worldview at all. In fact, they're quite quite hostile to it But let's see in wrapping this whole thing up, you know,
01:00:53
I realize that in some way, you know some of what I said I mean, it's not not the cheeriest thing, right? You know,
01:00:59
I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer Or sound like some kind of a pessimist because I'm not a pessimist, you know, but the
01:01:07
Bible teaches us Not to view the world through rose -colored glasses but to look at things in the light of Scripture You know,
01:01:16
I think the Apostle Paul what he says somewhere I don't have the immediate reference, but he talks about you know Don't think you know more highly of yourselves and you should now
01:01:25
I mean the Apostle Paul isn't saying, you know, think that you're some kind of a Low life a little worm or something like this
01:01:32
I mean if you're a Christian, you know Christ died to save you from your sins I mean you have value for that reason alone and you know so we shouldn't think of ourselves as as being worthless because Christ is
01:01:44
He gave his life for us So I mean to say that is really denigrate the sacrifice of of Christ himself.
01:01:51
Of course we have value But we also have to realize you know that that that we're not
01:01:57
God we shouldn't think of ourselves more highly than what we ought to and we should have a correct a sober assessment of our value of Who we are?
01:02:07
As as Christians and and I think this that same principle can be applied when we're looking at the world you know,
01:02:14
I quoted those those passages from From Proverbs, you know about the you know about the prudent man for sees evil coming and hides himself
01:02:23
But the fool passes on and is punished. Well, you know, we have to be able to assess the world around us soberly so, you know, we don't want to look at things through rose -colored glass and say oh everything's gonna be awesome because Right now frankly everything is not awesome
01:02:39
And we don't want to fall into despair either because we know You know as as Jesus said
01:02:46
When he was about ready to to send into heaven after his resurrection He says all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, you know, that hasn't changed
01:02:54
He still has all authority in heaven on earth and and he is our King. He is our Savior and and we
01:03:01
We know this and in knowing this it should give us confidence to be able to face this world
01:03:06
We know this world things can get pretty bad at times But we also know that he's promised to give us the strength to face it
01:03:14
So instead of going into to a difficult time and I think we are going into difficult times
01:03:20
I think we're going to difficult times economically. I think we're going into difficult times politically You know, and I think as Christians, I think there's a good chance that it's going to become more difficult for us to To be
01:03:33
Christians, you know without suffering some consequences for that, you know, it's something we have to accept
01:03:39
I mean this world is not our home, right? I mean, I think was that the author of Hebrews talked about this, you know
01:03:44
He talked about the you know, these people of whom the world was not worthy and you know, they ended up You know wandering about in the wilderness and caves and excuse me
01:03:55
You know and they went through a lot of difficulties because they were faithful, you know, it'd be nice to think oh, you know
01:04:00
I'm I'm saved in Christ and and I'm gonna go out and tell the truth about You know about sin and unrighteousness and and teach about sound economics and sound politics and everybody's gonna love me
01:04:10
Wow, that's just great. Well, yeah, it doesn't really work that way, does it? You know a lot of times people don't want to hear the truth and they prefer the lie
01:04:23
But you know as Christians, I mean our job Is to be salt and light now
01:04:29
I had a Sunday school teacher years ago. I remember he said that see we're talking about the Sermon on the mount and and you know, there's that that portion early on where you know,
01:04:39
Jesus says, you know You're the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. He was talking about his followers
01:04:46
And I remember the comment that he made about this a Sunday school teacher And he said, you know He said you can really think of of that as the job description of a
01:04:54
Christian to be salt and light And you know and sometimes when we're facing a world when we've got, you know, so many hostile philosophies so many hostile ideas so many such so much violence so much
01:05:08
Untrue so many lies that we all have to deal with every day and we can despair, you know sometimes you think oh my gosh
01:05:13
Yeah, how am I ever going to be able to even have have any hope of having an impact in in a society like that?
01:05:20
well, you know what I would remind you is, you know that the first century of the first century
01:05:28
Was at least as bad as what things are today and in some ways they were far worse I mean the moral climate of the
01:05:35
Roman Empire In the in the first century AD was appalling
01:05:41
I've seen some people describe it as a Pornotopia was what what one one author
01:05:47
I read he used that word called it a pornotopia and And you can really see this
01:05:53
It's kind of interesting you may have heard of there's a couple of famous archaeological sites
01:05:59
Pompeii and Herculaneum These were two cities that were buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1879 and One of the things that makes the the archaeology there
01:06:09
So compelling, of course is that it was you know They were covered in this volcanic ash and they were just pretty much buried in place, you know and you've probably seen some of these photographs, you know, we're
01:06:19
I guess as they've excavated the layers of volcanic ash and they would come to these cavities where people were buried alive and in their bodies had been there and they've decomposed over the the
01:06:33
Roughly 2 ,000 years since that happened and then they would pour in you know this I don't know some kind of substance
01:06:39
They would pour it into the cavity and then they would excavate the the remaining Rock formation will have you around the bodies and then you can actually see these bodies in amazing detail
01:06:50
Are these people who were buried? well, it wasn't just the the bodies that were these these cavities that were preserved there was a lot of a
01:07:00
Lot of Artwork in what -have -you that was recovered from Pompeii and Herculaneum and when they first started excavating this and I think this goes back to the 18th century the archaeologists were scandalized at Some of the the the pictures the the frescoes are on the wall some of the statuary in this stuff
01:07:22
It was really obscene. I've actually I remember I took a course in archaeology
01:07:28
When I was in college and and I saw a few of these pictures and Yeah, they they they're pretty shocking
01:07:36
And and this was apparently is pretty common that people had these obscene pictures on their walls of the dining room
01:07:45
And this was a Roman Empire. This was the first century ad I mean, this was a time with it was just a few decades of the the life of Christ And in this was the world that the first Christians came into is a very hostile world and You know, of course
01:08:00
Rome was very polytheistic and they're okay with you having your own God But what they didn't want you to have is to make exclusive claims, you know
01:08:08
It was the exclusive claims of the Christians that got them in a hot water with the authorities. And of course, that's why they were plundered and Sometimes jailed and sometimes tortured sometimes killed
01:08:20
They came into a very hostile world and And yet, you know, they were you know, the early
01:08:26
Christians were salt and light and they changed the world. They really did You know and and if they can do that, you know
01:08:33
We can do that too and we can be salt and light in our own time In our own neighborhoods in our own families in our own cities where we live
01:08:40
And I don't know exactly what that means for you, but I don't want you to sit here and think oh my goodness
01:08:45
You know, oh, you know, it's the World Economic Forum and that's the globalist and you know It's the Fed and all these people have infinite power and I can't possibly do anything about it.
01:08:52
I'm just gonna go hide in a cave No, I mean that's that's not what we're supposed to do, you know
01:08:58
We need to be going about a business, you know in the places where God's placed us you know in in the jobs that we have and with the friends that we have and our the neighborhoods where we live and And we're to be salt and light and that could mean a lot of different things
01:09:14
There's a lot of different ways you can do that Now one of the ways I do that's by doing a podcast, you know, but doing an occasional live stream or or something along these lines
01:09:24
There's a lot of ways that we can be salt and light. I would really encourage you To do that, you know,
01:09:30
I heard a sermon the other day I was listening to was by Martin Lloyd -Jones and he was preaching on it was in Hebrews as that passage in Hebrews What chapter 12?
01:09:41
Where it talks about looking unto looking into Jesus who's the author and finisher of our faith And he says, you know in the basic message that Martin Lloyd -Jones says is, you know, don't look to your circumstances, you know, look to Christ Yeah, and that's what as Christians we need to do and I think that we need to to really make a commitment
01:09:59
I know I need I need to do this. I'm preaching to myself here. Okay, this is This is mostly directed at Steve Matthews, but you know, maybe maybe some other people can can benefit from this
01:10:11
I know one of the things that I need to do is is to look to Christ And to look to him and not despair my circumstances and not get frustrated and not get down Because he does he sits at the right hand of the father and one day he will return to judge the quick and the dead
01:10:27
You know and the government will be on his shoulders And of the increase of his government and of his peace there shall be no end
01:10:35
As Isaiah tells us now, I mean, you know between now and then we may have to go through some difficult things But we know that he's going to be with us.
01:10:43
He will strengthen us. He's given us his word and I I would just encourage you to To take solace in that to take strength in that You know and as we face this year to find ways in in which you and to find ways in which
01:10:58
I Can can be salt and light in the circumstances in which God places us and that's really all
01:11:04
I had for you here today So I wanted to just say thanks so much for listening Miss T says happy new year.
01:11:10
Well, happy new year to you as well. I appreciate that Tony Brown says I really needed this. Thank you
01:11:16
Steve. So you're very welcome Tony I'm glad you could watch and I really appreciate that. So Anyway, thanks so much for listening.
01:11:25
I really do appreciate that. I wish you and your family a very happy and blessed
01:11:30
New Year, and I wish you all a blessed Lord's Day tomorrow and I will talk to you
01:11:38
Lord willing in in another week So thanks very much for listening and until that time May the